Mkhabela was one of many students attacked by police at the University
of Swaziland Kwaluseni campus on 22 February 2016.

The Times of Swaziland, the only
independent daily newspaper in the kingdom reported at the time, ‘a Royal
Swaziland Police (RSP) Operational Services Unit (OSSU) casspir drove at high
speed into a group of about 2,000 students, who, when they realised that the
vehicle was not stopping, ran in all directions’.

Students from different institutions were present at
the launch at the Kwaluseni campus of the University of Swaziland, along
with prominent trade union members and political figures.

Swazi Police say they are investigating the
circumstances of the incident, but students have called for an independent
inquiry.

Monday, 11 April 2016

The best-known of the prodemocracy groups in Swaziland has accused King
Mswati III of stealing from children so he could have his own personal jet
aircraft.

The People’s
United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) said the move to buy a A430-300 Airbus
for E200,000 (US$13.2 million) was ‘corrupt’ and ‘insensitive’ at a time when about
one in four of Swaziland’s 1.3 million population was in extreme danger of
hunger because of the prolonged drought in the southern Africa region.

PUDEMO, which is banned in Swaziland where King Mswati rules as sub-Saharan
Africa’s last absolute monarch, said that the US$13.2 million could have been better
spent.

In a statement
it said, ‘Our view is that it is corrupt, insensitive
and arrogance to buy a jet when there is the crisis of drought. There are
families who can’t take their children to school. There are university students
who cannot afford education. There are farmers who lost everything during the
drought. There is 43 percent unemployment.

‘That money used to buy the jet can pay for 2,500 students to finish their
degrees at the university from 1st year to 4th year. The same amount can pay
for 42,500 children to start form one up to form five in public schools. So the
king decided to steal from 45,000 children to live a luxury life.’

PUDEMO also estimated the money spent on the jet could alternatively, ‘recapitalise
farmers with 20,000 new cattle and feed; or build a new fully furnished
hospital; or build 40 fully-equipped clinics; or build 35 new fully-furnished
schools; or build 10 tar roads in rural areas each 20km.’

The announcement that the money for the King’s jet would be paid from public
funds came as Swaziland asked for international aid to help provide US$16
million in drought relief before the end of April 2016.

King Mswati lives a lavish lifestyle. He already owns a McDonnell
Douglas DC-9 jet aircraft that cost about US$11 million in 2010, but he considers
it too small. The King also has 13
palaces and fleets of BMW and Mercedes cars.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of
his subjects live in abject poverty with incomes of less than USS$2 per day.

In
February 2016 when it declared a national emergency the Swazi Government said it did
not have sufficient money to purchase food and other provisions for the
estimated 300,000 people in danger of severe malnutrition. It appealed to the
international community for help.

The
Government estimated it would need US$16 million in aid before the end of April
2016.

The United Nations said the funding would enable the
World Food Programme and UNICEF to provide food and emergency water and
sanitation to the 95,000 most vulnerable people.

King Mswati III, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolution has an international reputation for his lavish lifestyle. He already
owns a jet aircraft, but he considers it too small, so he will now get to an A340-300 Airbus built in 2001. It will be purchased from China
Airlines in Taiwan.

The King who rules over a
population of 1.3 million subjects also has 13 palaces and fleets of BMW and
Mercedes cars.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of
his subjects live in abject poverty with incomes of less than USS$2 per day.

The Swazi university student who was crushed under an
armoured troop carrier when police drove at speed at protesting students was so
badly injured she will not walk again.

Ayanda Mkhabela, aged 23, was one of many students attacked by police at
the University of Swaziland Kwaluseni campus on 22 February 2016.

The Swazi Observer, a
newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch, reported doctors in Port Elizabeth Hospital, South Africa,
said she will never walk again.

The police attack happened as students were protesting
about delays in registration.

The Times of Swaziland,
the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom reported at the time, ‘a
Royal Swaziland Police (RSP) Operational Services Unit (OSSU) casspir drove at
high speed into a group of about 2,000 students, who, when they realised that
the vehicle was not stopping, ran in all directions.

The Swazi Observer, reported,
“The
official police version of events was to the effect that Mkhabela tried to
climb on the body of the casspir and fell, thus injuring herself.

‘He denied that the casspir could have been used as a weapon by the
police and when he was asked if the officers were qualified to rush a person to
the hospital instead of waiting for paramedics considering that Mkhabela had
spinal injuries, Mamba said they were trained in first aid and acted due to the
emergency of the situation.’

The Swaziland National Union of Students (NSUS), in
a statement posted on Facebook,said
newspapers had distorted the truth to make the incident look like an accident.

SNUS said, ‘Truth of the matter is approximately 1,000
protesting students at Kwaluseni UNISWA were targeted by the police casspir
which sped to disperse them and as their desire hit our very own desperate
Ayanda Mkhabela. Upon knocking her down, as expected the casspir switched off
lights and she was taken away, fortunately to hospital.’

Thursday, 7 April 2016

Swaziland parliamentarians have
made an abrupt about-turn over the purchase of a private jet for the kingdom’s
autocratic monarch, King Mswati III.

They had decided to reject part
of the kingdom’s annual budget that would have approved E96 million to be spent
on a private jet for the King.

But days later they
overturned that decision and have agreed to pay E200 million (US$13.2 million) –
more than twice the original amount budgeted for – to China Airlines in Taiwan
for an Airbus A340-300, built in 2001.

Unconfirmed reports
circulating on the Internet said that King Mswati had refused to sign-off
Swaziland’s budget announced in February 2016 unless he got his jet.

On Tuesday (5 April 2016),
the Swazi Observer,
a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported that the E96 million
allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for
the jet had been cancelled by the Ministry of Finance.

There had been complaints
both inside and outside Swaziland that the money could be put to better use.
About 300,000 people in Swaziland are presently at risk of severe hunger as a
result of drought.

The Observer reported the Ministry of Finance had ‘listened and
cancelled the allocation and the money taken to the Consolidated Funds’. This
would allow it to be spent on other things.

Two days later on Thursday (7
April 2016), the Times of Swaziland,
the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom, reported that ‘following a
three-hour long caucus by both Members of Parliament (MPs) and senators in the
Parliament canteen, the latter agreed that the E96m, which had been frozen by
MPs, be released to pay a deposit to China Airlines, based in the Republic of
China on Taiwan.’

The Prime Minister Barnabas
Dlamini, who was not elected to office but appointed directly by King Mswati,
later presented a statement. The Times
reported, ‘[T]he PM said following a Parliament resolution that government find
a solution to ensure that Their Majesties are secured a mode of travel, they
had sent a ministerial subcommittee headed by Chief Mgwagwa Gamedze, the
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, to look at the
various options available.’

The newspaper reported, ‘The
balance for the Airbus A340-300, which has been identified, will be paid up in
the 2017-2018 government financial year.

‘The PM said the jet to be
used by Their Majesties for international trips was a long range and,
therefore, it did not have to make fuelling stops every now and then.’

King Mswati already has a
private jet that has been the subject of a legal dispute in both Canada and the
British Virgin Islands.

Reporting on the about-turn
by MPs, the Times said, ‘The MPs
approved the motion and said they had not released the money because government
had failed to bring feedback on the King’s jet and instead had just made an
unexplained E96 million under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs budget allocation
for the 2016/2017 financial year.’

King Mswati III, the absolute monarch of Swaziland, has once again been at the centre of events in his kingdom. His refusal to recognise there was a drought crisis and hundreds of thousands of his subjects were at risk of hunger set back relief efforts by many months.

The King’s vast wealth was in the spotlight when it was reported he could make US$65 million with the reopening of a gold mine in his kingdom. The King supposedly holds mineral royalties ‘in trust for the nation’ but in fact he uses such monies to finance his personal lavish lifestyle that includes 13 palaces, fleets of Mercedes and BW cars and a private jet.

Elsewhere it was reported that new rules if they come into force would censor what could be taught at the University of Swaziland, where King Mswati is Chancellor. The university was told it should not ‘teach things which could be detrimental to the wellbeing and image of the country’.

King Mswati III’s absolute monarchy in Swaziland ‘ultimately is incompatible with a society based on the rule of law’, a report into the kingdom’s judicial crisis and published by the International Commission of Jurists concluded.

These are some of the stories from the past three months that have been reported by Swazi Media Commentary. A new compilation called Swaziland Striving for Freedom, vol 21, January to March 2016 is available free of charge on the Scribd website.

This compilation brings together posts that originally appeared on its website.

Swazi Media Commentary website has no physical base and is completely independent of any political faction and receives no income from any individual or organisation. People who contribute ideas or write for it do so as volunteers and receive no payment.

Members
of the Swaziland Parliament have blocked a move to pay E96 million (about
US$6.4 million at the present ever-fluctuating exchange rate) for a jet plane
for the kingdom’s autocratic monarch King Mswati III.

The money
had been allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation in the kingdom’s annual budget announced in February 2016.

In February 2016 the Swazi Observer, a
newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported the E96 million was set
aside for a jet for the King after members of the parliament, many of them
appointed by the King, urged the Swazi Government to consider buying the King a
plane to replace the DC-9 jet
(also known as an MD-87) which he already has. It has been the subject of legal
disputes in both
Canada and the British Virgin Islands.

Once news of the intended spending was made public outside of Swaziland
the King came in for heavy criticism. Swaziland is in the grip of a drought
crisis and in February the Swazi Government declared
a national emergency and said the kingdom would need E248 million (US$16 million) before the end of April
2016.

The King
has a reputation for lavish spending. He already owns a private jet aircraft
and fleets of Mercedes and BMW cars. He also has 13 palaces in his kingdom
where seven in ten of his 1.3 million subjects live in abject poverty with
incomes of less than US$2 per day.

It is
reported that about 300,000 (one in four of the King’s subjects) need drought
relief with rural people in danger of severe malnutrition.

The Star Africa news site reported that Swazi legislators felt the allocation
of money for the jet, ‘is a waste of resources as there are other options that
can cost far less.’

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

International aid is beginning to flow into Swaziland
as drought relief, despite controversies over inappropriate spending by the
Swazi Government.

In the February 2016 budget it
was revealed that at least US$9 million has been set
aside this year for a jet aircraft for King Mswati III, the last absolute
monarch in sub-Saharan Africa.

A further US$12 million is to be spent on the Royal
terminal at King Mswati III (KMIII) airport.

KMIII, formerly known as Sikhuphe, is an airport built in the wilderness
in Swaziland. It has been widely criticised outside the kingdom where King
Mswati rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch as a vanity project
for the King.

Now, the European
Union has announced that in collaboration with the Finnish
Red Cross it will donate the equivalent of US$650,000 to assist more than
21,000 people from 4,200 households with food supplies.

In February the Swazi Government declared
a national emergency and said the kingdom would need E248 million (US$16 million) before the end of April
2016.